“Truth alone triumphs.”
~
In the stunning, vibrant country of India, you are a guest in a friend’s home. Awakened before dawn to the sound of deep, resonant chanting, you follow the sound to what appears to be a shrine with wooden figures resting in what you assume is a specific place. Your host is performing some kind of ritual involving water and incense. You hang back, not wanting to intrude, yet too intrigued to walk away. When your host completes his ritual, he stands and turns towards you, his face serene and alight with fulfillment. He sees you watching and instead of being angry, invites you to breakfast with him so that he can maybe explain what you have just seen. You are bursting at the seams with questions but he holds up a calloused palm as each of you settle onto a pillow at a low table and tells you, like all things, you must start at the beginning.
Hinduism is the oldest existing religion and is unique because it did not evolve from any one founder. It originated in India but has now spread out so that it is the third largest religion today with over a billion followers. But how did he come about? You say, leaning forward eagerly. When did it begin?
Over 4000 years ago around 2000 BC. And because of its age, its history is still unclear as to how it originally came about. As India began to grow and evolve, so did Hinduism, though it began as Brahmanism, the religion of the priest who performed the Vedic sacrifices which gave them the power to establish proper relations with the cosmos and their God Brahman. It is a henotheistic religion that means you are devoted to a single God, Brahman (One without a Second), while also accepting the existence of other deities, with each deity representing one of the many aspects of Brahman. A person’s soul, the atman, is eternal and is indistinguishable from Brahman. The Vedas, he adds were sacred scriptures that told early Hindus about the gods, how to worship them and what was considered right or wrong. Kind of like your God’s Bible and his Ten Commandments, your host tells you and you signal your understanding.
Hinduism is more a way of life more than a religion, he continues, and is a mixture of ideas and practices; of philosophical and cultural beliefs, and a diverse coordination of thought. It instills itself into the life of every Hindu from the moment of their birth. It stays with them through their lifetime, whether they are a believer or not, and it does not matter if you are educated or not.
What about reincarnation? You ask. And Karma? What’s that all about? Reincarnation and Karma go hand in hand he states. You can not have one without the other. Karma is the moral law of cause and effect. What goes around comes around, you interject. He nods. An individual develops vibes from the actions they show in life, whether their actions are mental or physical. A body more subtle than the physical one, called linga sharira and less subtle than the soul (atman) then carries these impressions into the next life. Your next life is a direct result of those impressions. If your actions are good, you move forward in the evolutionary circle, if not, you move back.
But what do you do to insure you move forward and not back? You wonder. Rituals like you saw this morning, he says, here or at the temple. These rituals help us seek an awareness of God, and bring him into our everyday life. Home worship, or pūjā, involves getting up before sunrise each morning and cleansing ourselves of yesterday’s impurities. Each individual is considered impure or defiled to some degree, and this impurity must be overcome before the ritual or during it. One common way we do that is with water or purification.
What were you singing? Mantras, or prayers, as you know them by. Through sounds, chants and certain meanings, they can help the believer focus on holy thoughts and express their devotion clearly. The shrine and the doll? What were they for? We use the shrine and icons as tangible links to our chosen deity. The icon image is usually thought of as a manifestation of God as He is infinite. Why don’t you use a temple? It is a personal choice. Temples are usually dedicated to primary deities with smaller shrines inside dedicated to the lesser ones. Temple worship is not mandatory and is now mostly done during Hindu festivals and ceremonies. Our greatest freedom, he says, is worship for each of us is guided by our own spiritual experience.
So what are the rules? you ask, tucking your feet beneath you. Your host appears comfortable, but you are unused to sitting on the floor for long periods of time. As it is your fault, you don’t mention it.
There are few “do’s and don’ts.” As everyone, with their difference in intellectual maturity, cannot always understand, an individual will not follow the same path as another, but their goal will be the same. Goals? There are four Goals of Life that a Hindu can aspire to. There is kama... Kama? You interrupt, forgetting your sore knees. Like the Kama Sutra? You mean sex? Your host chuckles. Yes and no. Kama is our God of love and it does mean sensual pleasure and enjoyment. But it is more than that. It is about the enjoyment and the fulfillment of ones pleasure with not only another human being but in life itself. It is considered last in the line of significance.
Before kama, there is dharma and artha. Dharma is virtuous living and should be considered above all else. Artha is material prosperity and success. In youth, you are allowed pleasure before the others, but once the glow of youth has settled, you are to begin earning a living as long as you’re doing so does not contradict living morally. Neither should pleasure be gotten with out regards to dharma. These three goals are the purposes of everyday life. And the fourth? Moshka. It is the liberation from the cycle of death and of rebirth. It is what every Hindu aims for.
Above all, the ultimate goal in life is the realization of your eternal union with Brahman and the unity of all existence. You need to have perfect unselfishness and utter knowledge of oneself. You must be released from the shackles of ignorance. And, he pauses like a great storyteller pausing for dramatic effect; You must attain perfect mental peace. If you do all these things: the rituals, the understanding of oneself, and follow the goals of life, you free yourself from the cycle of reincarnation. You are considered one with God.
Wow, you murmur, awed by your hosts knowledge and obvious faith. I used to think India was all pretty scarves, belly dancing, and blue-faced beings with multiples arms. We are, he nods, but we are much more as well.
Come, he says, rising to his feet. I will tell you of these “blue-faced beings” as you call them, another time. For now, let me show you my India. You follow him, seeing your host and this country, in a new light. You remember a quote, “simple in its complexities” and think it fits India, and your host, perfectly.
From Delight we came into existence.
In Delight we grow.
At the end of our journey’s close,
Into Delight we retire.
~
In the stunning, vibrant country of India, you are a guest in a friend’s home. Awakened before dawn to the sound of deep, resonant chanting, you follow the sound to what appears to be a shrine with wooden figures resting in what you assume is a specific place. Your host is performing some kind of ritual involving water and incense. You hang back, not wanting to intrude, yet too intrigued to walk away. When your host completes his ritual, he stands and turns towards you, his face serene and alight with fulfillment. He sees you watching and instead of being angry, invites you to breakfast with him so that he can maybe explain what you have just seen. You are bursting at the seams with questions but he holds up a calloused palm as each of you settle onto a pillow at a low table and tells you, like all things, you must start at the beginning.
Hinduism is the oldest existing religion and is unique because it did not evolve from any one founder. It originated in India but has now spread out so that it is the third largest religion today with over a billion followers. But how did he come about? You say, leaning forward eagerly. When did it begin?
Over 4000 years ago around 2000 BC. And because of its age, its history is still unclear as to how it originally came about. As India began to grow and evolve, so did Hinduism, though it began as Brahmanism, the religion of the priest who performed the Vedic sacrifices which gave them the power to establish proper relations with the cosmos and their God Brahman. It is a henotheistic religion that means you are devoted to a single God, Brahman (One without a Second), while also accepting the existence of other deities, with each deity representing one of the many aspects of Brahman. A person’s soul, the atman, is eternal and is indistinguishable from Brahman. The Vedas, he adds were sacred scriptures that told early Hindus about the gods, how to worship them and what was considered right or wrong. Kind of like your God’s Bible and his Ten Commandments, your host tells you and you signal your understanding.
Hinduism is more a way of life more than a religion, he continues, and is a mixture of ideas and practices; of philosophical and cultural beliefs, and a diverse coordination of thought. It instills itself into the life of every Hindu from the moment of their birth. It stays with them through their lifetime, whether they are a believer or not, and it does not matter if you are educated or not.
What about reincarnation? You ask. And Karma? What’s that all about? Reincarnation and Karma go hand in hand he states. You can not have one without the other. Karma is the moral law of cause and effect. What goes around comes around, you interject. He nods. An individual develops vibes from the actions they show in life, whether their actions are mental or physical. A body more subtle than the physical one, called linga sharira and less subtle than the soul (atman) then carries these impressions into the next life. Your next life is a direct result of those impressions. If your actions are good, you move forward in the evolutionary circle, if not, you move back.
But what do you do to insure you move forward and not back? You wonder. Rituals like you saw this morning, he says, here or at the temple. These rituals help us seek an awareness of God, and bring him into our everyday life. Home worship, or pūjā, involves getting up before sunrise each morning and cleansing ourselves of yesterday’s impurities. Each individual is considered impure or defiled to some degree, and this impurity must be overcome before the ritual or during it. One common way we do that is with water or purification.
What were you singing? Mantras, or prayers, as you know them by. Through sounds, chants and certain meanings, they can help the believer focus on holy thoughts and express their devotion clearly. The shrine and the doll? What were they for? We use the shrine and icons as tangible links to our chosen deity. The icon image is usually thought of as a manifestation of God as He is infinite. Why don’t you use a temple? It is a personal choice. Temples are usually dedicated to primary deities with smaller shrines inside dedicated to the lesser ones. Temple worship is not mandatory and is now mostly done during Hindu festivals and ceremonies. Our greatest freedom, he says, is worship for each of us is guided by our own spiritual experience.
So what are the rules? you ask, tucking your feet beneath you. Your host appears comfortable, but you are unused to sitting on the floor for long periods of time. As it is your fault, you don’t mention it.
There are few “do’s and don’ts.” As everyone, with their difference in intellectual maturity, cannot always understand, an individual will not follow the same path as another, but their goal will be the same. Goals? There are four Goals of Life that a Hindu can aspire to. There is kama... Kama? You interrupt, forgetting your sore knees. Like the Kama Sutra? You mean sex? Your host chuckles. Yes and no. Kama is our God of love and it does mean sensual pleasure and enjoyment. But it is more than that. It is about the enjoyment and the fulfillment of ones pleasure with not only another human being but in life itself. It is considered last in the line of significance.
Before kama, there is dharma and artha. Dharma is virtuous living and should be considered above all else. Artha is material prosperity and success. In youth, you are allowed pleasure before the others, but once the glow of youth has settled, you are to begin earning a living as long as you’re doing so does not contradict living morally. Neither should pleasure be gotten with out regards to dharma. These three goals are the purposes of everyday life. And the fourth? Moshka. It is the liberation from the cycle of death and of rebirth. It is what every Hindu aims for.
Above all, the ultimate goal in life is the realization of your eternal union with Brahman and the unity of all existence. You need to have perfect unselfishness and utter knowledge of oneself. You must be released from the shackles of ignorance. And, he pauses like a great storyteller pausing for dramatic effect; You must attain perfect mental peace. If you do all these things: the rituals, the understanding of oneself, and follow the goals of life, you free yourself from the cycle of reincarnation. You are considered one with God.
Wow, you murmur, awed by your hosts knowledge and obvious faith. I used to think India was all pretty scarves, belly dancing, and blue-faced beings with multiples arms. We are, he nods, but we are much more as well.
Come, he says, rising to his feet. I will tell you of these “blue-faced beings” as you call them, another time. For now, let me show you my India. You follow him, seeing your host and this country, in a new light. You remember a quote, “simple in its complexities” and think it fits India, and your host, perfectly.
From Delight we came into existence.
In Delight we grow.
At the end of our journey’s close,
Into Delight we retire.
